Chasing Smoke
by StolenSolace
Summary: Sookie is mysteriously poisoned and even Dr. Ludwig doesn't know what kind of creature is behind the attack. Eric pays a hefty price to enlist the help of a young woman that the supernatural world simply calls The Hunter. What will they find? *Spoilers*
1. Pork Chops

* Please note that this story is set after All Together Dead and does contain spoilers. All characters are the sole property of Charlaine Harris. *

It was a beautiful Sunday morning and it was my day off from Merlotte's. I brushed my teeth, peed, and reveled in all the little things that still made me feel like a human. I trotted back into my room after piling my hair into a neat ponytail on top of my head. As always, I faced the question of what to wear. I wound up pulling on a pair of sweatpants and my favorite long orange sweatshirt with Bon Temps Football on the front. It still smelled a little bit like Jason.

Thinking about my idiot brother made me scowl a bit. I would have to get around to having a series of awkward conversations with him one of these days, but it definitely wasn't going to be on my day off. I wandered into the kitchen to make myself a steaming cup of coffee and spread the last of my grandmother's jam onto two pieces of toast. I ate my breakfast in silence until Amelia burst through my front door and stomped up the stairs. She rethought her dramatic entrance halfway to her room and decided that she would rather tell me her troubles.

"That man is an asshole," she muttered and helped herself to some coffee.

"Werewolf," I corrected. Her thoughts consisted of nothing more than angry snarls and expletives, but I was too tired to think about blocking her out.

"I'm going shopping." She announced suddenly and disappeared out the front door just as suddenly as she had come. With a beginning like this, I should have suspected that it was going to be one hell of a day.

I climbed into my car and decided to do something productive. I stopped by the grocery store to buy some pork chops and blood since it was my night to cook. I pulled into the library and dropped my books in the deposit slot instead of going in. I thought Alcee Beck might rip my head off if I even thought of speaking to his wife, the librarian, ever again.

I was pleased to arrive home and curl up on my loveseat with a good romance novel. It had been a long time since I had paid Nora Roberts proper homage. I bit back a sigh as I realized how much I missed Bob's little body curled up on my knees keeping them warm as the winter months approached. I really did have to see about getting a new cat to replace him.

Amelia still hadn't returned by the time I stood up to start making dinner. I was in the process of chopping the fat off of the pork chops when I heard a string of beautiful and strange notes coming from the woods. My hand curled tighter around the knife as I went to the window to investigate. There was nothing suspicious about my yard, but it was hard to tell without the security light on. After a while I gave up and returned to my task.

The first needle caught me in the left shoulder. I involuntarily turned to look at the source and the second one caught me in the side of the neck. I hit the floor like a ton of bricks and starting convulsing. I called out in my head as the darkness claimed me. _ERIC!_


	2. Big Bucks

The light hurt my eyes. The voices hurt my ears. The smell hurt my nose. I opened one eye and was staring directly into the face of Dr. Ludwig. I would have jumped if I didn't feel entirely paralyzed.

"Sookie?" Eric asked in his best I-don't-want-you-to-die voice.

The fuzzy background of Eric's office loomed into focus. I moaned in pain and Eric knelt to squeeze my hand tenderly. "You need to stay awake, lover."

Dr. Ludwig eyed our exchange with visible distaste. "She will live. Mr. Northman, you will be receiving my bill within 24 hours. Miss Stackhouse, stop getting poisoned." She turned on her heel and exited out the employee door.

"What happened to me?" I asked, slurring slightly.

"We don't know." Eric replied thoughtfully. "Even Dr. Ludwig had no idea what it was and she usually knows right off the bat."

I wondered again if Eric was a fan of baseball. It brought a smile to my lips. I could feel the worry rolling off of him in thick waves and it was getting to be a little overwhelming in my incapacitated state.

"Stop worrying."

"Maybe," Pam volunteered, "you should stop getting shot, poisoned, beaten on, and bitten, and then Eric could sleep at day without rolling around in his coffin."

_Sleep at day?_ I could see that Pam's mastery of modern English was not as developed. Or, more than likely, she just didn't care how she sounded to humans.

Eric chewed his bottom lip in an uncharacteristic display of anxiety. "Pam."

She tapped her bright red pumps to show that she was waiting.

"Call the Hunter."

Pam looked as though she had something to say to that, but thought better of the impulse and obediently trotted off to fetch the phone. I heard her muttering behind the bar in a language I didn't understand, and she popped back into the room a few moments later. "You're not going to like her price."

"Money is of no importance when my lover is clearly injured, Pam."

She looked like she wanted to throw up. "Her price is half a million dollars and she will be leaving LAX in an hour."

I choked. "Half a million dollars?"

Eric waved his hand dismissively. "The dawn is coming. You may rest safely here, Sookie."

"Thank you for saving me," I muttered weakly as he lightly brushed my lips and departed to his hidey-hole. Pam flashed a smile at me and stepped around the couch I was laying on to warm up a bottle of blood.

"I've never seen him like this." She volunteered.

"Really?" I groaned into the pillow, trying to fake enthusiasm.

"Yes, and I've been with him for longer than you've been alive times a hundred. When he felt your distress he simply ran out of the bar in the middle of a sentence."

I glanced up at her and marveled again at how people so deadly could be so beautiful. "Why didn't I die? And shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Your delicious roommate's wards kept the being out of your house until Eric arrived. And as for why I am awake, I do not like the place where we go to ground in Fangtasia. No matter how much I clean the extra coffin it still reeks like Chow."

I giggled, and then the conversation took a more serious turn. "Who is the Hunter?"

Pam's smile crumbled. "That is not for me to say. Goodnight."

I closed my eyes and gave myself back over to the blissful dark of sleep.


	3. Pretentious

The couched sagged under the weight of its new occupant as Eric snuggled up to me at first dark the next day. I leaned my head against his cool chest and was too tired to protest that millennium-old Viking vampires are not meant to share tiny couches.

"How are you feeling, my lover?" He asked gently.

"Like I've been used as a pincushion. I've been meaning to ask you if I smelled like fairy last night."

Eric shook his head miserably. I found myself wondering where the hell Claudine was when I was in need of fairy godmothering, but it wasn't really fair to expect her to constantly save me. She did caution me against doing just that.

"I'm going to go get some fresh air," I informed him after shoving him with all my might. It of course produced no effect whatsoever aside from making him mildly amused with my human weakness.

"Do not fight me on this." He murmured in my ear and for a horrifying moment I was afraid. He could feel this through our blood bond and patted my arm comfortingly. He raised a wrist to his mouth and bit down with a sickening crunch.

"Eric," I snapped warningly. "No."

He offered his wrist to me and held the other one cupped underneath to collect the blood that was dripping. His eyes flashed with anger at my defiance.

"The bond is so strong already. You don't know what this could do to me. I'm sure that I'll fully recover on my own."

I could feel his power pushing at the edges of my mind as he tried to glamour me for the thirtieth time since I met him. "No."

"I could force you," he whispered.

I'm sure that he could hear my heart beating itself to death against my ribcage. Thankfully, one of Eric's daytime fangbangers chose that moment to open the door to the office. She blanched and stepped back, knowing that he was going to be angry.

Eric was on his feet in an instant and was already running a tongue over his wound to seal it. "What do you want?" He demanded in a dangerous tone.

"I'm s-sorry, Master, but there is a woman outside waiting for you." The fangbanger stammered. She was wearing a black and purple corset and a leather fuck-me miniskirt. I wondered what time it was, and whether the bar was going to be opening anytime soon.

Eric snarled at her viciously and she squeaked before hurrying from the room. He extended his hand and pulled me to my feet, giving me a look that told me this particular debate was far from over. We walked into the main floor of the bar which was empty except for Felicia who was organizing things. I collapsed into one of the chairs and rested my head for a moment.

The front door slammed and a young woman with gorgeous brown hair, long legs, and almond-shaped eyes stepped tentatively into the room. She was wearing high black boots with gray jeans and an expensive leather jacket. The most identifying thing about her, though, was the quiver and bow that were slung across her back.

"Eric," she greeted warmly as though they were old friends. He nodded to her respectfully.

I tried to read her thoughts but couldn't find anything substantial at all. It was like she simply was not there at all. My eyebrows crinkled together as I thought over this new development. Vampires left a hole that my ability couldn't pick up on and Weres were just difficult to read. Never before had I encountered a creature that simply left no signal whatsoever. After concentrating for a few minutes I could pick a few words out here and there, but she obviously had been taught how to shield against telepaths. When I honed back in to real life I saw that Pam had returned in her black work clothes.

"Who's your new pet?" The Hunter asked curiously.

"I am not—"

Pam cut me off abruptly. "Her name is Felicia and she's settling in. The bartenders in this place have all met with some unusual and unfortunate final deaths."

I balked to see an apparently human woman referring to a vampire as a pet. I knew humans who had been killed for far, far less. I stole a glance over at Felicia and her fangs were partially out.

"Is there some place more private that we can talk? I don't like discussing business in front of vampires I don't know." The woman explained. Felicia looked ready to throw a glass at her. She left the room at a look from Pam.

Eric cleared his throat in a very human way and gestured for everyone to be seated. "Arty, this is my… friend Sookie Stackhouse."

I bobbed my head in her direction. "Nice to meet you."

"Sophie-Anne Leclerq would not shut up about you. It's nice to meet you too, Sookie. You're quite famous by now. My name is Artemis."

Pam snorted. "Could you pick a more pretentious name? Last time we spoke you were going by Eva."

_Pretentious _was on my Word-a-day calendar back home. I was happy that someone had used it while I was around.

"It's not my fault that the King of California felt that I needed a nickname indicative of my use. I'm so glad that someone staked that bastard. Oh wait, that was me." Arty quipped. She had removed her weapons and set them beside her and it seemed to lighten the atmosphere a bit. I could tell that Eric didn't seem at all stressed by her presence, and that was honestly good enough for me.

"Oh," she cried suddenly. "I have gifts for you!"

Pam and Eric visibly brightened at the prospect. I wondered to myself exactly how influential Artemis was in the supernatural world. Obviously it was worth half a million dollars just to get a visit from her.

"I can hardly wait. Hurry up." Pam ordered as she dug through her backpack. I almost laughed until I saw that Pam was being serious.

Arty produced a small wooden case and unlocked it with a key from around her neck. She removed two vials and set them delicately down on the table. I knew that it was blood from the color and the way it rolled against the glass. The vampires were enraptured and could barely tear themselves away from staring at it.

"Is that what I think it is?" Eric breathed.

"100% fairy's blood. There's a vial for each of you. Let me tell you that it was not easy to get."

My great-grandfather Niall was a pureblood fairy and he would not be pleased to know that Artemis had bled or murdered one of our kind. I knew better than to object because this strange woman, though slight in build, looked as though she could snap my neck without messing up her nail polish.


	4. Atlanta Burning

"Describe the attack to me," Artemis ordered in between sips of a gin and tonic.

I took a deep breath and began to relay the story. "I was standing in my kitchen cooking dinner when I heard some music out in the woods. I went and checked but I didn't see anything out there. As soon as I turned around these spikes hit me in the shoulder and then in the neck. I fell and started shaking all over and the next thing I knew I was here in Fangtasia."

Everyone at the table looked puzzled. Artemis drummed her fingers on the table and leaned back for a moment with her eyes closed. "What did the music sound like?"

I can't sing to save my life, but, ironically, that's kind of what she was asking me to do. I hummed a few notes weakly, but the pitches were all wrong and I couldn't even come close to recreating what I had heard earlier in the woods.

She turned to Eric. "Do you have the spikes that she was hit with?"

Eric nodded distractedly and went to retrieve them from his office. I didn't need to be able to read vamp minds to know that the only thing on his was the vial of fairy blood that was jostling around in his pocket. He returned with inhuman speed and laid one of them down on the table in the middle of us.

I grimaced. They hurt like a bitch even if Dr. Ludwig had removed the poison and closed the wound quickly. "What kind of vampire uses a blow dart?"

Artemis picked up the spike gingerly and turned it over in her hands. "A vampire didn't shoot this. If this is what I think it is…"

She turned and searched through her backpack again until she produced a large book that she unceremoniously slammed onto the table. The pages were yellowed and the leather bindings were wearing away. Most of the writing belonged to the same person and the language changed every ten or twenty pages.

"I heard that you lost that book fleeing Sherman."

Artemis chuckled. "I just whined very loudly about it so that all you supes thought it was gone. People were trying to kill me for the book, and they're leaving me alone now that they think it burned in Atlanta."

"They'd be wise to leave you alone anyway."

I found myself wondering how old Artemis was if she was around for the burning of Atlanta. I'm no history genius, but I know that was over 100 years ago. At first glance she seemed like your average human. I stared at her intently while she was pinpointing the exact page that she wanted us to see. At the top there was a sketch of a man with hundreds of teeth, the body of a lion, and the tail of a porcupine. Could a creature like that really exist?

Artemis stuck out her index finger and pointed. "This is called a manticore. It shoots spikes like the ones that hit you, Sookie, and it sings music while it's hunting. This is the only match I can think of even though I thought the last one of these evil bitches died a few hundred years ago."

Eric sighed deeply and slid a check across the table to Artemis. "I want it dead within the week."

She took one look at him and burst into peals of laughter. Pam even managed a genuine smile. I was starting like this woman even if I couldn't understand a thing about her.

"Eric, dear, you don't know what you're dealing with. I've killed vampires, Weres, shifters, fairies, goblins, demons, and even a few Fellowship of the Sun members, but taking down a manticore is a completely different story. I'll have to do some research on it. Though right now, I'm going to bed." She rose from the table, nodded to each of us in turn, and started slowly out the door where I'm assuming someone was waiting to take her to a hotel.

Pam looked after her longingly. "That woman gives me chills."

"I'm worried," Eric muttered to me. "Arty has been able to kill anything that has come her way. The King of California and the Queen of Arizona were fighting for her loyalty for fifty years."

"So she killed them both?" I inquired.

Eric nodded. He took my hand and started to lead me back down the employee hallway. "Come, my lover, the public will be arriving soon. You may stay in my office again until the bar closes or you can take my car home. I'll send Pam to guard you."

I collapsed wearily onto the edge of the desk and Eric snaked an arm around my waist. I was still feeling the effects of the poison and I was almost thinking of taking Eric up on his offer for blood. I mentally scolded myself. For all I knew, I could turn into a vampire with just one more drop.

"I think that I might just ask Sam or Bill to keep an eye on my woods. And I'll have Amelia and Octavia with me. Pam should stay here with you." As if on cue Pam knocked the door slightly off of its hinges, leaped over the broken office door, and stood giggling in front of us.

"Drink that blood and let's have a good time," she cackled and pawed for Eric's arm. He did not look happy.

"I would have Pam take you home, but with fairy blood in her system it's the vampire equivalent of drunk driving. You will stay here tonight. Stay in this room and I'll come get you after we have closed." He shook his head at Pam and stepped back out onto the main floor to preside over the evening.

I snuck over to Eric's computer and turned it on. I went to Google and typed in "manticore." The hits were all of enormous lions with wings and spiked tails. I thought back to the time that Sam had shifted into a lion to protect me, and how one swipe of his paw was enough to crack open Were skulls. I felt lightheaded suddenly and curled up into a whimpering ball on the couch. The only thought I had running around my head was _I'm fucking dead._


	5. 3 Wishes

Eric returned barely three seconds after the last patron had exited the bar. I checked his eyes like a sponsor checks their wayward alcoholic. He hadn't drank the fairy blood yet, but I was sure that he was going to give Pam a piece of his mind when she sobered up.

"How was business?" I asked politely.

"If I never see another human again it would be too soon. They are so needy."

I snorted loudly. "I'm human, remember?"

He rolled his eyes and sat across from me with an exasperated sigh. "Yes, but you are intelligent and have talents that other humans do not."

His tone made me wonder if he was referring to the few nights that we had shared in bed together. But a quick glance at his solemn face told me otherwise. For once, having sex with me seemed to be far from his mind.

"I have the lunch shift at Merlotte's tomorrow," I informed him.

"Call Sam and switch it to night shift. I will accompany you."

Even though it felt to me like Eric and I were heading in a bad direction, I felt so comfortable and safe when he was around. It would be a blessing to have him watch over me at work to make sure that no crazy pirates or Anglo-Saxon warriors tried to kill me… again.

"I think that I'm going to call Alcide and Calvin Norris tomorrow to see if there has been anything unusual in their packs. I don't see how a gigantic lion-thing can just waltz up to my front porch without someone smelling something."

Even if I had abjured Bill I certainly wouldn't object to him saving my skin. Hell, I would have welcomed Selah Pumphrey's help if she was going to keep that thing away from me.

"Can I ask you something?" I blurted out just to break the silence that had settled in between us.

"You just did," Eric replied. "But yes, you may ask me another question."

I stared down at the eggshell carpet. "Why did you have to call Artemis to come here? Isn't that a whole lot of money? I thought that the vamps handled their own business."

"That's true," he muttered. "And believe me, it does hurt my pride to have to ask for her assistance. But after Rhodes, you should know that we are not invincible."

I winced as I remembered the burning bodies, charred flesh, and horrific screams as the Pyramid of Gizeh came crashing down. I had done my best to save everyone that I could. Well, except Andre. I categorized Andre's death as one of the things that never happened and stuffed it away along with the memory of shooting Debbie Pelt.

"Arty does not like to have her history put out in the open. But I will tell you what I know about her." Eric sat down beside me and ran his fingers through my hair. "Artemis was born an incredibly long time ago, but no one knows for sure. She saved the daughter of a local witch from a fire and in return she granted Artemis three wishes."

"Isn't it always three?" I mumbled.

"Artemis wished for eternal life and unrivaled speed. She began to work for human nobles as an assassin, until she caught the eye of a vampire who hired her to kill his wife. She is the most powerful mercenary in the world and is behind the scenes of our entire history as a race. I have little doubt that she could easily kill Pam, Felicia, and myself. As far as the money goes, she is giving me a cheap price since we are friends."

I attempted to absorb the shocking tale of a normal girl's rise to the height of supernatural politics. "I didn't think that witches could grant wishes that are that crazy. I mean, I was impressed when Amelia did those ectoplasmic reconstructions."

Eric's eyebrows raised. "She did one of those?"

"Two of them. One was for Sophie-Anne."

As I was reviewing the information Eric had given me on Artemis, I hit a snag. "Wait a minute. You never told me what her third wish was."

"That's the most mysterious thing about her," Eric replied coolly. "No one knows."


	6. Helen Gar

The bar quieted as soon as Eric entered Merlotte's. I tried to shut everyone out, but I was simply too exhausted from the events of the previous night. I automatically scanned the room for my brother, but he had wisely stayed away from the bar. Sam waved me to from behind the bar as I slipped into the back hallway to store my purse in the empty drawer that he kept for us waitresses. Eric had taken a seat in my section and zoned out into vampire hibernation mode.

"Table three needs a refill on their pitcher," Holly informed me. "And is that vamp with you?"

I searched around and saw that Bud Dearborn and his friends were occupying the table Holly had indicated. "Yeah, that's Eric."

She glanced at him nervously as he turned to fix her with an icy blue stare. "He's the one that kicked ass at the Witch War, right?"

My tone became suddenly more serious. "You shouldn't talk about that ever again, Holly. There's still a lot of people out there who are pissed and would love to find out who was involved."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'd really like to forget that whole night."

Holly exited out the back door and I hurried another pitcher of beer over to Bud.

_That girl can't stick around human men for five seconds, can she? I don't see how anybody can pity a girl like that who ain't got a lick of sense to stay away from danger._

I scowled at Bud and Alcee and put in their order for a basket of chicken fingers. I hoped that Terry spat in their food. I stood in front of the refrigerator for a good thirty seconds trying to remember what type of blood Eric preferred. I finally settled on O and brought it over to him shaking it to distribute the warmth evenly.

"Were those men bothering you, lover?" He asked dangerously.

I couldn't help myself from pushing a strand of his golden hair out of his face. "It's nothing to worry about. I'm awful sorry that you have to sit here all night. You could go out and just come back to pick me up tonight. Sam can keep an eye on me."

He scoffed. "As if I would trust your safety to a _shifter._"

Men. Sometimes I wondered if I wouldn't be better off batting for the other team like Claude or Hadley. Then again, look at where it had ended Hadley.

I finally mustered enough energy to block out the patrons' thoughts. Every time I acknowledged my bond with Eric everything just seemed to melt away like it was insignificant. As much as our blood bond worried me, it was times like these that I could appreciate its effect on me.

I had just gotten done calling relatives to come pick up the alcoholics when the door flew open and Claudine walked in. She was wearing a long white dress with silver high heels and a matching silver belt. She certainly looked the part of being an angel.

"Sookie!" She cried and threw her arms around me. I could feel the pulse of every male in the room rise a few beats. "I was worried about you!"

I jerked my head in Eric's direction. He had already risen out of his seat and was quietly sneaking over to her.

"Eric," I growled. He hesitated, and then proceeded to advance even faster. His fangs had fully extended and his hands were curled into claws.

"I'll see you later then," Claudine murmured weakly. And with a _pop!_ she was gone.

Eric looked disappointed. I smacked him on the shoulder and he seemed to realize what he was doing. "Look, Eric, I know you still have that damn vial of blood in your pocket so why don't you just take it and stop torturing yourself?"

He folded his arms and tried his best to look formidable. "I would not be a very good guardian if I were to become inebriated while I am standing watch."

"That stupid lion-thing is not going to try and kill me on the way back home to Shreveport while you're with me. And besides, I'm pretty sure it can't outrun the Corvette."

In all honesty, I was kind of using my argument as an excuse to get to drive the Corvette really, really fast. I wasn't expecting a whole lot of trouble from Eric as I counted my tips and finished filling the little sugar holders on each table. I gave Sam a hug even though he looked like he was going to asking me a billion questions the next time I came to work alone.

"Call me if you need me, Sook."

I smiled and gave him another hug. "Thanks, Sam. You're the best."

Usually shifter thoughts are hard to read, but the physical contact and the strength of the emotion behind it made Sam's mind crystal clear for a single comment. _I don't feel like the best._

By the time I pulled into the employee lot at Fangtasia I was more than positive that I was going to need Pam's help with her ridiculously intoxicated maker. Eric opened the door of the Corvette and spilled out onto the gravel laughing.

"Pam," I grumbled. I knew that she could hear me. Sure enough, she appeared a few seconds later and stood over Eric with a slight grin.

"I'm not going to let him live this down for a few hundred years." She leaned over and stood Eric up with considerable effort. He slung his arm across her shoulders as she led us back into the bar. He collapsed onto one of the bar stools.

"True Blood!" He yelled at Felicia. She seemed startled but fetched him one without any questions. He opened the cap and toasted to no one in particular. Pam was enjoying his behavior to say the least.

"How long will he be like this?" I snapped in exasperation.

"Oh, just an hour or two. I wish I knew how to use a camera. I'm sure that this would make a great addition to Bill's database."

I actually cracked a smile at the thought of thousands of vampires watching the infamous Eric inspecting the inside cap of a True Blood as though he were looking for Snapple facts.

"Hmmmm," he hummed. We jumped as he burst loudly into song.

"Helan går  
Sjung hopp faderallan lallan lej  
Helan går

Sjung hopp faderallan lej  
Och den som inte helan tar  
Han heller inte halvan får  
Helan går  
Sjung hopp faderallan lej!"

My mouth dropped open in shock and Pam was doubled over she was laughing so hard. Felicia had clapped a hand over her mouth and her shoulders were shaking noiselessly. I hadn't had this much fun with Eric around since we had spent those few nights making fun of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Our laughter caught abruptly in our throats as Artemis walked in to join us. Eric's nose twitched as he absorbed the new scent. She was covered head to toe in blood.


	7. Melody

"I take it that the creature is dead?" Pam drawled as she took in Artemis' appearance.

"No," she replied happily. "I went to stop in with the King's representatives to let them know that I would be in their territory. One of their vamps was dumb enough to attack me for killing her maker back in 1820-something, so I sent her to meet him."

"Have you made any progress in the hunt for the manticore?"

Artemis shook her head. "I had an idea that I came here to run by Eric, but it looks like he's off in another universe."

"How observant of you," Pam said dryly. "He will be right in another hour or so. And speaking English again."

"I need to go take a shower. Text me when he's back to normal."

I kept looking from Eric to Pam to Artemis' retreating figure as I tried to wrap my head around how different this was from the usual doings of Fangtasia. Artemis had to call my name three times before I heard it.

"Yeah?"

"I hope you don't mind," she yelled from the end of the hallway. "But I stopped by your house and took some of the clothes out of your hamper. I need them to have your scent."

I frowned. "How do you know where I live?"

I didn't get a reply. Somehow I wasn't really expecting to get one, either. It was 4 AM by the time Eric was back to his regular self. He glanced around the room and sniffed the air again. "Aria was here?"

"Aria is dead," Pam replied gleefully. "And a good riddance to her, if you're asking me. Artemis took the liberty of killing her in the messiest possible way. I'm sure Victor is ecstatic."

Eric shook his head and glowered at the table. I felt like there was more to this story than I was getting, but I had enough sense not to poke my nose into vampire business. They had a habit of biting it off if you did.

"What did Arty say?" Eric asked wearily. "And did you get into contact with Felipe de Castro like I asked you to?"

Pam folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "You never told me to call him. And Arty is at home cleaning up and wants one of us to text her when we are ready and sober enough for her visit."

Eric slammed his fist down on the table hard enough to make it jump on my side. I squeaked in surprise and involuntarily slid a few inches back in my chair.

"Pam," he hissed. "I told you to call the King last night directly after closing."

"Yes," Pam snapped back. "You told me to call _the King._ I summoned Bubba."

"He recovered from Katrina?" I blurted out. I was fond of Bubba for more reasons than just his famous face.

Eric stood and seemed to tower over Pam. She dropped her gaze as an obvious display of subservience as Eric pushed past her and stalked into his office. Somehow I didn't think that paperwork was going to put him in a better mood, so I resumed my seat and waited for whoever was coming to just show up already. I was exhausted, and the repeated attempts on my life didn't make anything better.

"Yes," Pam responded belatedly. "Bubba is as normal as he will ever get. I don't know how long it will take for him to arrive here, but I'm afraid that I may have to send him away as soon as he does."

I patted her on the shoulder and gave her a thin smile. "It was an easy mistake. You shouldn't blame yourself. Eric is just being moody."

"Moody?"

I pursed my lips. "Bipolar?"

"I do not know that phrase either."

I mentally rolled my eyes. Sometimes it seemed ridiculously simple for things to get lost in translation. I suppose that happens when most of your closest associates have been dead for a few hundred years. "It means that he'll be sad one minute and angry the next and content right after. He keeps changing."

She laughed and opened a True Blood. "He acts as though he has a woman's monthly bleeding at times. _Dear Abby_ says that you need to let your family work out their problems by themselves instead of trying to fix things all the time. So when he is angered like this I just let him go until he calms himself."

"Do you really think about Eric as being family?" I asked curiously. I knew that I was treading on dangerous ground. Asking a vampire about their past was playing with fire.

"He is my maker," she replied simply. "I have no other."

Pam dug a sleek silver cell phone out of her pocket and texted absently without paying any attention to the keys at all. I assumed that she was texting Artemis to tell her that now was a good a time as it was going to get.

"I can smell the morning already," she pouted.

"Aww," I sympathized. "The itty bitty vampire's bedtime is coming soon."

I walked over to the bar to grab myself a coke not because I was thirsty but because I wanted to stay out of punching range. Eric chose that moment to emerge and seemed to forget whatever he was going to say as soon as he reached me. He snaked an arm around my waist and kissed me.

"I have behaved unbecomingly."

I quirked my head to the side. "Is that your way of saying you're sorry?"

He smirked and gave Pam a curt nod that I had come to understand as the vampire equivalent of a pat on the back, a greeting, an apology, or a dismissal. There were a few days when I really wished I could read vamp minds. I shuddered as I thought about what I might find if I could.

Artemis sauntered in and helped herself to another drink. She laid her bow and quiver on the bar beside Eric. He slid his hand away from them minutely.

"I need to talk to you," she sighed. "Privately. I will need your authority in all of this."

"You will have it," Eric agreed. "My time is shortening as the dawn approaches, so your plan had better be quick."

They stepped into Eric's office and shut the door a little more forcefully than necessary. I glanced at the clock and decided that sunrise should be coming soon. I stepped out the back door to check on the status of the daylight when I heard a stray music note caught by the wind and thrown my way. I scrambled back into Fangtasia and almost crawled into Pam's lap.

"What's wrong, Sookie?"

I suppressed another fit of trembles. "The manticore. It's hunting, and it's outside the door."


	8. Robin Hood

Pam stood up dramatically and dumped me off of her lap. Her hands curled into fists and she let out a low growl. "Let it come. It will take more than little sharpened poison sticks to hurt a vampire."

I was going to argue the irony of this statement, but I decided that annoying your protector is usually a pretty dumb thing to do.

"Awesome!" Artemis squeaked as she came barreling down the hallway with an arrow already nocked. "The fun's come to us."

My ears were assaulted by the _whoosh_ sound that Eric made as he chased after her. Only Pam was left with me when the employee door had closed behind them. I could barely even catch my breath trying to keep up in the world that I had unwittingly stumbled into that long, long time ago.

"I do not know what he thinks he can do at this hour," Pam remarked.

A nervous smile touched my lips. "Get a tan, maybe?"

Pam shrugged her shoulders and looked like she was gritting her teeth against a yawn. "Well, if he dies, I inherit the bar."

"You can go to sleep," I offered, even though I felt like a child that didn't want to be left alone in the dark.

"How can I sleep when you smell like fear? All it makes me want to do is stay awake and kill things."

That's comforting. Thanks. "If you stay here for another few minutes you're gonna be deep fried."

Eric was certainly cutting it close by the time he returned to Fantasia. His eyes were wide and his fangs were protruding over his bottom lip. I wondered if vampires were still subject to adrenaline rushes. At times like this, I could see through his semi-civilized façade and into his past where making death was the only way to make a living.

"It got away," he panted. "Arty is outside still, but she will be back eventually. We must sleep."

Pam and Eric took turns laying a hand on my shoulder as they left to their hidey-holes. The silence and isolation pressed in on me. I stood and paced the length of the bar like a cornered animal waiting for slaughter.

"Faster than I remember," Artemis grumbled from beside me. I shrieked in terror and nearly lashed out. Her hair was a rat's nest and her boots were caked with mud. The entire outfit made her look more like a cross-dressing Robin Hood than anything else.

"What's going on?" I demanded in exasperation.

The Hunter leaned wearily against the wall and ran her fingers through her hair. "Eric smelled it even before I heard its call. We ran out there, but your vampire was lagging because of the dawn and it didn't seem to want to pick a fight with me. I could have easily caught up to it, but I honestly wouldn't know what to do once I got there."

"Aren't you just supposed to kill it? If you could have killed it then you should have just fucking done it. What is it with you supes and making everything way too complicated?" I thundered. "At least I can appreciate people like shifters and Weres who just see something and rip it to pieces!"

She pursed her lips and frowned at me. "Are you finished?"

I took a deep breath and resumed my former place at the table. She cracked open a bottle of water and unceremoniously emptied it over her disheveled head, shaking like a dog as she did so. Mud spattered all over the carpet making Fangtasia seem more like a wartime bunker than it already felt.

"So why didn't you kill it?" I volunteered after a few minutes of uncomfortable thought.

She lounged back in the seat across from me and ran her fingers repeated over her bowstring as though it was a lapdog. "If I kill it, I can't find out who sent it. And if I can't find out who sent it, they'll just keep sending things. There aren't many people that can control a manticore and even less that can find one to begin with. This entire thing is very intriguing and that's why I'm here. I don't need Eric's money and your life is not all that important to me either. However, I suppose I should ask if you have any enemies."

I scoffed and earned myself a sharp glare from Artemis. My mental list of enemies has even become jumbled over the past year of pure insanity, violence, and chaos. It was like trying to find a friend in a Kill-You stack lately. "Let's see… honestly, the list is too long."

"I can imagine," she muttered. "You have no idea how many thousands of people would like to know that I'm dead. I'll start writing up a list of some sort and we can look into their backgrounds and see what they've been up to."

The idea of making a literal hit list seemed almost laughable. "Are we going to do anything else tonight?"

"No," she replied thoughtfully. "You need rest. We'll stay here and I'll keep an eye on you while Eric and Pam are sleeping. Tomorrow I'll start thinking about whether you're capable of defending yourself. After all, you're just a human girl."

I curled up on one of the bar's many couches ignoring the nagging feeling that I didn't want to know what other patrons had used it for. Artemis wrapped herself up in her jacket and perched on the end of another sofa stroking her bow like a pet and looking more like her namesake than ever before.


	9. Target Practice

I woke up suddenly to the sounds of snarling and thrashing in the back room behind the bar. I leaped off the couch faster than I thought possible and started running toward the sound of the struggle. Normal humans would have run the opposite direction, but let's just face it—I'm not normal. I slowed my steps as I heard a loud screech from Artemis and what sounded like a shower of broken glass. I grabbed a large bottle of Grey Goose from a shelf and tiptoed as best I could into the room.

Artemis was screaming something incoherently at her attacker as he wrapped both hands around her throat. I knew from my sixth sense that it was a vampire. I brought the bottle crashing down on his head. He collapsed and didn't move again.

"What the hell is going on?" I cried.

Artemis put both of her hands on her knees and let her head fall. "That's Bubba. He was starting to burn by the time he reached the bar, so I grabbed him and tried to bring him back here in the dark. I guess he thought I was attacking him and that's how this all happened. I didn't hurt him. I wouldn't."

I gasped and dropped to my knees beside the unconscious body of my friend. "I'm so sorry, Bubba!"

"He obviously can't hear you. He'll heal. Just grab something to help me cover him up."

We wound up laying a plastic pool table cover over the unconscious vampire and shutting the door quietly behind us. I went quickly to the bar and reached underneath to the small refrigerator that contained True Blood. I chose O—Eric's favorite—and set it beside him to make sure he didn't go into a bloodlust and try to rip out my throat. Why is being human such a gigantic inconvenience?

I found Artemis gazing out the back door with a blank stare on her face rubbing at her throat absently. She half-turned as I approached and let out a sigh.

"Are you hurt at all?" I asked quietly.

She shook her head no and continued to stare out into the distance. "Did you sleep well enough?"

"Yeah," I muttered. "You scared the living hell out of me, though."

"It was not my intention," she replied in the same awkward way that I sometimes heard Eric or Pam use when they weren't focusing on modernizing their speaking habits. I had noticed that contractions were usually the first thing to go out the window.

"It wasn't your fault. Eric is probably going to throw a fit when he wakes up. Do you know if anyone called the actual King?"

Artemis took another deep breath and closed the door. "No. He has no business here, either. I never liked Felipe de Castro and I highly doubt that I will change my mind about him any time soon."

I followed her like a puppy back into the main room and wondered for the fifth or sixth time whether it would be a good idea to call Alcide or Jason. They were both leading busy lives during a very chaotic time for were-insert-animal-here. The thought of calling Sam helped to calm my nerves and flooded my system with a feeling of relief. No matter what happened, I always knew that I could count on my Collie.

"Here," Arty muttered and thrust a sheathed knife into my hand. "We're going to start teaching you how to not die."

I glanced down at it and wondered if she realized how clumsy and accident-prone I was. "What is a knife going to do against a manticore that shoots poison darts at my face?"

She snatched the knife back and hefted it in her hand after carefully removing the intricately designed leather sheath. She placed it back into my hand. "Feel this. Hold it. What do you notice about it?"

I did as she instructed, but it felt the same to me as any old knife would have. I told her so and she crinkled her brows together in a look of frustration and confusion.

"I'm sorry!" I said, raising my voice slightly. "I don't exactly do this shit a lot!"

Another deep breath. A tap of a boot. A twirl of a braid. "Hold it. Feel it in your hand. Feel the balance of the weapon. Can you feel how the weight sits in your hand? That blade is made to be thrown."

I let the knife sit loosely in my palm and could almost feel the difference.

"I'm going to show you how to throw this while holding the handle and not the blade. With your luck you would throw it by the blade and cut your arm off or something. The manticore's main weakness is human weakness," she began. "Because it has the head of a man, it relies very much on sensing motion rather than sight, smell, or hearing. All of a human's senses are ridiculously dull. During my last experience with a manticore, my group and I simply had to stay still and low in the grasses to avoid being noticed."

We made our way outside to the parking lot and she adjusted my grip about five times before even scrawling a rough target for me in chalk on a tree trunk. I tried to control my wrist with just enough flick before the release to send it into a straight spiral. It hit the tree and bounced off.

"Artemis," I complained after repeating the same scenario another ten times. "There is no way that I'm going to be able to throw this hard enough to get it to stay put."

She smirked and started walking toward the tree. She positioned herself in front of the target, took off her jacket, and spread her arms wide.

"What are you doing?" I called to her.

"Use me as a target," she yelled back. "It makes practicing more fun anyway."

My hands immediately started trembling. Something about using a living target made the pressure that much worse. "But what if I hurt you?"

She laughed and cracked a wide grin. "You couldn't hurt me if you wanted to."

I took that as a challenge as I changed my grip on the knife again. I tried to hold my breath and steady my hand as I released. As much as I believed her statement, I knew that the only way to start standing up for myself was to think that I could defend myself. The blade spiraled through the air and glinted in the morning light. It moved closer and closer to Artemis until suddenly she wasn't there anymore. She was standing by my side watching the blade sink into the edge of the target.

"That was good," she praised. "Now do it again. Maybe you can hit within the lines by the time the vampires wake up."


	10. A Few Honest Mistakes

"Your aim is getting better," Artemis muttered approvingly as she watched me hurl the knife again and again with all of my force. I actually managed to hit the target consistently without her standing in front of it. I was proud of myself, but weighed down by the paranoid fear that I wouldn't be able to perform when actually faced with a threat.

"Can we go inside?" I panted, holding the knife pressed against my thigh. Who knew that throwing a knife could take so much effort?

"Sure," she replied. "Eric and Pam are probably going to wake up soon anyway. We should also probably check on Bubba before Eric finds him."

We wandered into Fangtasia and I sat at the bar staring at the clock while Artemis checked on our unconscious visitor.

"He's out like a vampire in a tanning salon," she reported while taking a seat at the small table that was covered in her research. "It's dark outside. I guess Eric's worn out from last night."

By the time the sheriff of Area Five graced us with his disheveled presence Artemis was already at the point of exploding. Her head was pressed flat against the book in defeat while her fingers tapped without rhythm on the top of the table like a student in the middle of the SATs.

"I take it that things are not going well?" Eric guessed as he emerged from the basement.

"Hardly," she snapped back. "I can't find a thing in here that's of any use whatsoever. I know a thing or two about manticores, but I tend to forget things that aren't immediately useful because I know that I'll have them recorded in here. For some reason I can't find any of my old research. No one has touched this book but me."

Eric sighed and ran his fingers through his hair thoughtfully. "Do you work tonight?"

I looked up at the clock and raised an eyebrow. I couldn't seem to remember my schedule. "I think I work tomorrow night. Sam or Holly would have called by now if I hadn't shown up."

"I'm hungry," Eric complained and eyed me in an eerie way.

"There's plenty of bottled blood in this place," I offered. "I can heat some up for you if you like."

He scowled and nodded his head. "I'm getting restless with this whole game. Honestly, I don't like having to think this much. I didn't become a sheriff to think. I became a sheriff to hire people to think for me."

"Isn't that why I'm here?" Artemis groaned with her head still in between the pages of her book. "I'm going out into the woods tonight to plant Sookie's clothes around the area and see if I can get the vile creature to show itself."

"Can I see the clothes first?" I asked meekly.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "You want to make sure I didn't take anything special?"

I smiled innocently. "I don't exactly want my favorite pair of jeans, my work clothes, or, you know, a thong hanging around the neighborhood."

She indicated a spot in the corner where her bags were stored. I walked over and started rifling through them looking for my clothes. My work apron stuck out like a sore thumb. I pulled out an armful of my favorite clothes and laid them down on the floor sadly. She must have taken them straight out of the hamper.

"Wow, you really did a good job of grabbing all of my favorite stuff," I grumbled in her general direction.

"Good," she spat back. "While you're at it, go ahead and choose which outfit you'd like to be buried in. I'd hate for you to look unfashionable for the worms crawling into your ears."

I shuddered and mentally gave up. "Fine. I get what you're saying. Just take it all and if it gets ruined I'll go see my friend Tara and buy more."

Eric snorted in the corner. "Buy more? When was the last time I allowed you to pay for your own clothing? Or driveway? Or house repairs?"

I glared at him. "You also pay my hospital bills for the injuries that I get as a result of being within a 50 mile radius of you freaks."

"It's not my fault," he drawled, "that you can't stop getting hurt. I, for one, seem to be much better at avoiding near-death than you do."

I grabbed Arty's knife off the table where I had set it down earlier and hurled it at Eric to make a point. I didn't expect to actually hit him. In his attempt to move out of way, he stumbled and it cut smoothly through the fabric of his right sleeve. I stood frozen in shock and started trying to pick my jaw up off the floor.

"PAM!" Artemis screamed immediately at the top of her lungs. "PAM!"

She ran over to where Eric was clinging to the top of the bar and helped set him down on the floor. Pam whizzed around the corner and tried to piece together the situation.

"The stupid human girl threw my knife at Eric," Artemis explained. "His shoulder is cut open a little bit, but it's not too deep. Is there a witch you happen to trust nearby?"

Pam looked thoroughly confused. "The woman that Sookie lives with is a witch. I also know of a few spread throughout the town. Why do you ask? Last time I checked Eric was capable of withstanding a papercut."

"This isn't an ordinary knife," Artemis explained hurriedly. "It was a gift and it has a very powerful enchantment. Eric's life isn't in danger, but it is rather incapacitating. The effect will wear off in a few hours, but I'd rather have him coherent now. The manticore isn't the most intelligent thing out there, but chances are there's someone a lot more powerful behind the attack. They could be watching us even now."

I heard the Corvette tearing out of the parking lot before I even knew Pam was gone. Artemis was leaning over Eric murmuring softly in another language. His eyes were glazed over and his hands were curled into fists.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I didn't know. I swear."

Artemis glanced at me angrily over her shoulder and sighed. "It will be fine. I never explained the nature of my weapons to you, did I? I suppose that is my fault. Then again, I was not expecting you to throw weapons that are not yours at our friends."

After half an hour, I thought I was going to die if Pam didn't come back. Eric sounded as though he was purring, though the panic in his eyes was enough to show his true emotion. I sensed Amelia as soon as she entered the parking lot, but became slightly more distressed when I tuned into her thoughts.

_I don't believe this! What the hell is going on? Who does she think she is? I was trying to have such a relaxing day and then all this happens! Maybe I should just leave Bon Temps! I can't handle all this drama all the time!_

Pam entered a few moments later with Amelia in her arms like newlyweds. "I have retrieved the witch."

Amelia kicked her way out of Pam's arms and glared at me. "You better tell me what all this is about. I want a discount on my rent or something!"

Artemis grabbed her by the front of her bathrobe and pulled her down next to Eric. "Have you ever heard of a sensitivity enchantment?"

My roommate nodded. "I've used it a couple of times for people that wanted to get dates. What's he sensitized to? The carpet?"

At that precise moment the storage room door exploded and showered everyone nearby with splinters. Bubba stepped over the rubble and smiled at me with his arms held open.

"Miss Sookie!"

"I can't believe this!" Amelia gasped. "What the hell is Elvis doing here?"

Bubba stood rooted to the spot with his face contorted in a mixture of rage and confusion. Amelia, sensing her critical error, started backing slowly away one step at a time. A single question seemed to pervade the room: How could this possibly get any worse?


End file.
